New Delhi: If Yuzvendra Chahal isn’t selected in India’s povisional T20 World Cup squad on May 1, he would be left wondering what else he needs to do to represent his country in a major ICC trophy.
Since making his debut for India he has been among the country’s top spinners but has never made it to the national team squad for major tournaments, having been left out the 2022 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup squads.
On Monday, he made his pitch stronger than ever, becoming the first bowler to claim 200 wickets in the history of the tournament.
The leg spinner reached the milestone in Rajasthan Royals’ nine-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur when he dismissed Mohammad Nabi.
He beat Nabi in the air by giving the ball, forcing a leading of his bat to grab an easy catch caught and bowled chance to end up with 1/48 in four overs.
First bowler in the history of IPL to take 200 wickets! 🙌
Congratulations Yuzvendra Chahal 👏👏
Watch the match LIVE on @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia 💻📱#TATAIPL | #RRvMI | @yuzi_chahal pic.twitter.com/zAcG8TR6LN
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2024
Chala made his IPL debut in 2013 and has represented three different teams including Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, having overtaken Chennai Super Kings’ Dwayne Bravo (183 wickets in 161 matches) last year to become the tournament’s most successful bowler.
Chahal has been in form this year too and is second behind Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah on the race for the Purple Cap though both have 13 wickets each.
But as per reports, BCCI’s selector are unlikely to make too mancy changes to the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup, which makes it unlikely that Chahal would be called up.
Chahal has played 72 ODIS and 80 T20Is for India, picking up 121 and 96 wickets respectively, and is a proven performer. But at 33, time is fast running out for him to play for India in major tournaments.
